Our Commitment to End Racial Profiling on Nextdoor

Racial profiling or discrimination of any kind is antithetical to this mission. It has been incredibly painful to hear that some of the messages neighbors are posting on Nextdoor are having a negative impact on people’s lives.

Even though these kinds of conversations are rare, even one occurrence is too many – and we are committed to ending this destructive behavior on Nextdoor. We will continue to work on ways to educate members about what racial profiling is, why it is harmful, and how it will always be unacceptable on Nextdoor.

Listed below are a number of product changes we have already implemented to end racial profiling on Nextdoor. We have seen an encouraging response to these changes, but realize that there is no easy or quick solution. This is just the beginning of our long-term commitment.

Changes to-date:

Explicitly prohibit racial profiling in our “Nextdoor Guidelines on Neighborly Behavior.” Every member was emailed about this update. If a member posts a message that is flagged as racial profiling and violates the guidelines, the content will be removed and the member may be suspended from Nextdoor.

A racial profiling flag with feedback from the member who flagged the post. When a post is flagged as “racial profiling,” it is immediately escalated to the Neighborhood Lead and Nextdoor Support Team so that offensive content can be removed.

Training and education for our Neighborhood Leads on the issue of racial profiling. We will pilot this training in Oakland first.

Everyone at Nextdoor is taking this issue very seriously and we will not stop at the changes outlined above. We understand that the conversations on Nextdoor can have real impact in the world and are dedicated to making that impact as positive as possible.

If you have feedback or suggestions, we look forward to hearing them – you can contact us here.

The Nextdoor Team

Note: For testing purposes, some product changes may presently only be live in the Bay Area.

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2 Comments

I understand the objections of racial profiling on next door , but l disagree in part . When a crime has been committed or in the process , then a discretion of any perpetrators should be posted . No different than what police do . I have seen all races in illegal activity described on next door . I’m not trying too sound insensitive! If you see it , describe what you’ve seen . IF , you don’t see , then do not assume …….. Peace

You know, crimes happen very quickly. In my case, all I could discern was that my assailant was youngish/teen, black male, wearing a dark hoodie, and had some facial hair and was probably around 5 ft tall, maybe 130 pounds.

Would that be enough for Nextdoor?

Or would it get flagged for racial profiling of young black males and be censored?

Nextdoor needs to be practical about crime reporting. As aforementioned, the crime itself happens very quickly and a detailed description usually isn’t in the cards.